Welcome back explorers! We will finish of the Transformation Thursday theme with The Mighty Ducks(1992). Gordon Bombay (Emilio Estevez) begins the movie as a predator and ends the game as a team player. In the beginning, Bombay simply wants “to go for the W every time”. He has an obsession with winning, no matter what. However, even before we see Gordon as fearless adult, we see him as a kid playing hockey for the “Hawks”. He is literally a predatorily bird. He fails at being a predator in hockey by missing the winning goal and, later, fails at being a competitive lawyer by getting arrested for “DUI and reckless endangerment”. When he meets his team, he tells them straight-up “I hate hockey and I don’t like kids”. He is so uptight he cannot even try to get along with the kids. After Bombay remembers why kids play on sports teams, he tries to turn things around. He starts becoming a duck by asking Ducksworth (Josef Sommer) to sponsor the team and recruiting other kids to the team. He goes “back to basics”. Are ducks just “stupid animals” or “noble creatures”? Ducks “stick together”. Ducks work as a flock, not individuals.

Photo from oscarmovs.com.

When he hands out the jerseys, Bombay really starts changing his tune. He no longer goes for the ‘W’. He becomes all about teamwork. Even in the end when he faces success as a lawyer versus his success as a coach and team builder, he chooses the team. For not liking kids, he makes some major life choices dependent on them. Losing your job over volunteer coaching is a serious business. Gordon has officially been changed into a Duck! So Bombay goes from being a predatory Hawk obsessed with winning to a Duck, an animal of prey. People shoot at ducks and dogs retrieve them, whereas hawks catch small animals and eat them. While this may appear that Bombay becomes weaker, he actually gets stronger in a different direction. His life is healthier now without the determination and pressure to be perfect. Taking an ethical look at this movie and its characters. Although not the greatest franchise ever, many reasons exist why fans are still endeared to these movies. Come back next week for Second Thursday Sequels!